Many people like the taste imparted by a wood-fired oven. In fact, it appears that societal dining tastes and trends are leaning toward Continental cuisine. Restaurants offering new and varied dining experiences and tastes, from the sublime to the exotic, have flourished and prospered during the past decade or two. Among the tastes frequently sought after is that of food cooked or baked in a solid fuel oven, such as wood-fired oven baked breads and pizzas, as well as various other foods that can be prepared in a solid fuel, wood-fired oven. These ovens provide a unique cooking method and the fired gases and smokes let off by the solid fuels impart to the foods cooked in these ovens a unique taste obtained only from such ovens. Diners frequent restaurants whose menus include such wood-fired oven foods for the gustatory experience offered by these uniquely flavored foods, such as breads, pastas, pastries, poultries, fish, meats and pizzas.
A problem arises for the person who wishes to dine on foods cooked or baked in a solid fuel oven, but is not near a restaurant offering such foods, or does not have the time required to dine in a restaurant. The foods prepared in a solid fuel ovens, including wood-fired ovens, are best eaten when freshly prepared and cooked. Therefore, although many restaurants offer take-out or carry-out foods prepared in wood-fired ovens, the carry-out diner is unable to experience the freshly baked or cooked flavors available to in-restaurant diners. Frozen oven baked foods as well do not offer the true gustatory experience offered by freshly cooked wood-fired oven foods.
Workers on their lunch breaks often do not have the time to visit and dine in a restaurant or may just prefer to eat outside. Additionally, persons at outdoor events must typically rely on food vendors dispensing foods from carts for their dining experiences. Workers and event attendees, as well as others, who seek fresh, on-site wood-fired oven cooked or baked foods have been denied the experience either because of logistical difficulties or time restraints in going to a restaurant and ordering such foods.
Side walk vendors, while offering foods prepared on-site, do not offer wood-fired oven cooked foods. Current side walk vendors offer foods prepared on grills or ovens heated with natural gas flames, charcoal or electrically generated heat, but the relatively quick and flavor enhancing aspect offered by wood-fired heat is lacking in natural gas, charcoal or electric ovens or grills. Additionally, the utility requirement of electrically powered vending carts limits the operation of those carts to where such utilities are practicably available.